THE VULTURE

 

THE BADGE
Book 17 of 24
THE VULTURE
By Bill Reno
Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis
Bantam Books, June 1990

To a violent land, a frontier yet untamed, came a man who wore a badge of law and order. He faced the myriad dangers and paid the price in blood to become one of the most enduring heroic figures of the Old West.

Victorio “the Vulture” Condor is the vicious bandito who has stained the Pecos red with blood. Yet no one has felt the full force of his brutality…until now. As vultures circle hungrily over the bodies of his dead brothers, Victorio declares war on the Texas Rangers – and on Lieutenant Mark Gray, the man who strung them up. One by one, the Rangers will fall before his guns: but not the shrewd Lieutenant. For Gray is a hard man to kill, and as hunter turns to hunted, Victorio will find he’s an even harder man to escape.

The Badge books are about different lawmen, although a few do appear in more than one entry in the series. All the books can be read as stand-alone novels so there is no need to read them in order. 

Even though Lieutenant Mark Gray is the hero of this story the author spends as much time, if not more, telling the reader what Victorio is doing, painting a savage picture of this man and his gang. It seems that Gray and the Texas Rangers are no match for this bandit as the body count grows.

I would hazard a guess that the author, Lew A. Lacy writing as Bill Reno, had some fun coming up with all the different ways Victorio deals out death. The Vulture doesn’t want his targets to die quickly, he wants them to suffer for killing his brothers. Victorio takes great pleasure in sending the Ranger Captain Terrell Sears the badges of his dead men along with a black vulture feather. It’s not just Rangers who are marked to die, there’s a judge and a couple of lawmen too. 

The book doesn’t have a complicated plot, it is a straight-forward tale of revenge that is fairly brutal at times. From reading other books in this series, I couldn’t begin to guess how it would end as the author will kill off the main characters to add lasting impact to his tales. Would that happen in this one? It certainly seemed to be heading down that trail. 

I did feel the final confrontation was drawn out a bit too long, but the final scenes will definitely stay in my mind for a long time and provided a fitting end to this excellent story. For me, The Vulture is one of the best entries I’ve read in this series and I’m looking forward to reading book 18 soon.

CANNON'S GRAVE

 

THE BADGE
Book 16 of 24
CANNON’S GRAVE
By Bill Reno
Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis
Bantam Books, April 1990

Emmett Kolfax is as vicious an outlaw as the West has ever seen. Hard as nails and ugly as a bulldog, he hides behind a bandanna and a hail of bullets, leading his gang on bloody killing sprees. But not even Kolfax can hide from the law – when the lawman is United States Marshal Joshua B. Cannon. Fast with a Colt .45, Cannon’s brought down dozens of cutthroats, and figures Kolfax will be just one more…until Kolfax hits on a plan to lure Cannon to his grave, one that puts the woman Cannon loves at the mercy of the ruthless desperado.

Most of the books in The Badge series are only linked by the fact that the main character wears a badge of some kind. One or two of these lawmen do feature in more than one book, but generally they are stand-alone titles, and Cannon’s Grave is one of those.

We’re introduced to Cannon and his abilities in the first chapter. The method he uses to take down some outlaws is something that I haven’t read that often, if at all, in a western and I had to wonder if this skill would be used again to bring Kolfax to justice.

The author switches between his characters regularly so he can reveal just how brutal Kolfax is. Kolfax also treats his own men harshly and it’s impossible to know when his temper will overflow in violence. This man, and his gang, are surely going to be difficult for Cannon to bring down.

Some of the story plays out like many other westerns, such as Cannon going undercover as an outlaw into the Hole-in-the-Wall to get close to Kolfax. Someone there recognizes Cannon but can’t place him. You know this man will remember who Cannon is at some point and this adds some good tension to this part of the book.

Reno does have a few surprises in store though, such as where the title of the book comes from. This is the reason Kolfax heads for the Hole-in-the-Wall only to find he isn’t top dog there and he gets a taste of his own medicine from the man who rules the roost.

The book is paced well, contains a lot of action including a couple of savage fistfights, and throws in a couple of neat plot twist before good triumphs over bad as expected. Cannon’s Grave isn’t my favourite book in the series but it certainly kept me entertained and left me looking forward to reading the next book soon. 

Bill Reno is a pseudonym used by Lew A. Lacy.

FARRELL'S WAR

THE BADGE

Book 15 of 24

FARRELL’S WAR

By Bill Reno

Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis

Bantam Books, February 1990

Sheriff Tug Farrell’s put twenty-nine men in their graves, and he’s about to push the count even higher. A vicious bank robber named Devlin has invaded his territory, taking down two banks in Denver County – and killing Farrell’s father. As rage and revenge war with his lawman’s honor, Farrell hits the trail. But Devlin’s not the only killer up ahead. Raven Morrow, a deadly vixen from Farrell’s past, is waiting with gun cocked. But it’s Morrow and her blood-hungry bunch who’d better be prepared to die. For Tug Farrell has just declared war…and he hates to lose.

The Badge series is mainly a collection of stories that are only connected by the fact that one of the main characters in each book wears a badge of some kind. Occasionally the author would bring back one of those lawmen for another tale, and Farrell’s War is one of those cases. I’d suggest you read the earlier book which introduced readers to Tug Farrell before this one, as book 11: Dark Canyon tells of Farrell’s battle to bring down Raven Morrow. Farrell’s War does explain what happened before, in some detail, and certainly contains spoilers that will take away any of the surprises that Dark Canyon contains and it will definitely ruin the ending of that book.

In Farrell’s War, Tug is offered the chance to become an U.S. Marshal, but he turns that position down as his father has come to live with him. Whilst out investigating whether Raven is dead or not, the Devlin gang hit town and kill Farrell’s father. Now Farrell can accept the U.S. Marshal badge but he has to ask himself if he wants it as something to hide behind whilst he carries out his own kind of justice, revenge, or that of the law. As expected, trailing Devlin see’s the outlaw meeting Raven and her gang, but not as I expected. The kidnapping of a young boy brings Farrell into contact with the youngster’s mother and she triggers a very human emotion within Farrell. Could he be falling in love?

Bill Reno is a pseudonym for author Lew A. Lacy, and he once again has written a fast-moving tale packed with action and tense situations. Devlin and Raven, especially the latter, are excellent adversaries for Farrell and at no time could I be sure Farrell would catch up with them, never mind bring them to justice.  Farrell’s War is definitely a worthy follow-up to Dark Canyon and left me eager to read the next book in the series.

Mention must also be made of Shannon Stirnweis’ excellent cover art which illustrates a scene from the story perfectly.

THE GALLOWS

THE BADGE

Number 14 of 24

By Bill Reno

Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis

Bantam Books, December 1989

The desert town of Raton, New Mexico, metes out justice swift and severe. When respected Marshal Dan Washburn is gunned down in cold blood, the townsfolk exact their own brand of revenge with a hangman’s rope. But U.S. Marshal Ben Bryce thinks they hanged the wrong man, and he’s the one lawman bold enough to stand up to the town and tough enough to go after the real killer – someone who has a score to settle with the whole Washburn clan. Bryce has only one weakness: he’s fallen in love with Dan Washburn’s pretty young daughter. And now, as the buzzards circle, he alone stands between her and the bloodlust of a crazed killer.

Each book in this series is a stand-alone novel, all that links them is that the main character wears a badge of some kind. The Gallows is one of the best books in the series as far as I’m concerned.

The book starts with a hanging that doesn’t quite go as planned. This leads to the people of Raton deciding they need purpose-built gallows rather than using a horse and a tree. Soon after the this, the incident depicted on the book cover takes place and U.S. Marshal Ben Bryce rescues the daughter of Dan Washburn from three outlaws. Bryce is wounded during this and remains in town to recover, and it’s whilst being tended to by Washburn’s daughter, Lisa, that they begin to fall in love, much to the disgust of Washburn’s deputy, Ned Mills, who believes Lisa is going to marry him.

The author introduces many characters, fleshing them out well, making the reader care about their futures, their hopes, their dreams. Not everyone is quite as likeable though, and some of these make threats against Washburn. Others smoulder with their own hatred and this could explode into violence at any time. The author increases tensions extremely well and when Washburn is gunned down by a killer unknown the reader will have many suspicions as to who might have done it and why, and this is where the problems lie, as there are many possible culprits. Bryce tries to work out who the killer is, yet clues are thin on the ground. Then the bodies really begin to pile up as more of the Washburn’s meet violent ends. Trying to work out who the killer was, is what really hooked me, drew me deep into this gripping tale.

Bill Reno is pseudonym used by Lew A. Lacy and I’ve yet to read a book by him I haven’t enjoyed. His tales often contain many twists and turns, and that is the case in this story. I’ve found you can never be sure who will survive, be they main characters or secondary and that certainly applies to this book. The ending was both shocking and surprising and produced an ending I shall remember for a long time and left me looking forward to reading the next book in the series as soon as I can. 

THE OUTCAST

THE BADGE

Number 13 of 24

By Bill Reno

Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis

Bantam Books, October 1989

Long Shadow. The Cheyenne called him a traitor for saving a white man’s life and banished him from his people forever. Now, the man he rescued, Marshal Boyd Dollar, calls him “son,” the townspeople of Cheyenne Crossing call him deputy marshal, and one disgruntled rancher calls him dead. Swift with his fists and lightning fast with a revolver, Long Shadow stands for law and order. But when one of the most feared man-killers in the West puts the deputy in his gunsights, Long Shadow will fight hard and mean to survive.

The Badge books are a series of standalone novels united by the fact that the lead character wears a badge of some kind, so you don’t have to read the books in order. 

This story takes place over a number of years and begins with the funeral of Long Shadow’s mother. Events of that day see the fourteen-year-old nearly being hung as a horse thief, before he saves the life of Marshal Dollar which sees him banished from his tribe…and having to face never seeing the girl, April Dawn, he has promised himself to, again. April Dawn is as equally heartbroken as he is. 

Finding a missing white girl, Sally Easton, and returning her to Cheyenne Crossing leads to Long Shadow being adopted by Boyd Dollar. Sally falls head-over-heels in love with Long Shadow, yet he cannot return the feelings as he believes he will be reunited with April Dawn one day. There are people in town who aren’t ready to accept a Cheyenne living with them, and the hatred gets stronger when he becomes a lawman and plots are put into motion to get rid of him, permanently.

As well as being an action western, this is also a love story and for me it’s the latter that made this book so readable as I had to find out who Long Shadow would end up with, if indeed he did. The reported death of April Dawn opens up the possibility of marriage to Sally, but April Dawn isn’t dead. Will she track down Long Shadow before he marries? If she does will Long Shadow choose April Dawn or Sally? During the affairs of the heart, there is lots of gunplay as Long Shadow has to prove himself worthy of wearing a badge against bullies and outlaws in a number of exciting shootouts.

One thing I like about this author’s work, is that you can never be sure how his stories will conclude, and that includes predicting who will still be alive at the end, lead characters or not or whether there will be a happy ending for anyone. 

Bill Reno is a pseudonym used by Lew A. Lacy and I have yet to read a book by him that I haven’t enjoyed, and his stories always leave me keen to read another one as soon as I can. 

DEATH LIST

THE BADGE

Book 12 of 24

By Bill Reno

Cover art by Shannon Stirnweis

Bantam Books, August 1989

Rancher Bruce Ringle is a man to be reckoned with – and those who don’t usually live to regret it. He is the leader of the Stockmen’s Association, a ring of wealthy Wyoming ranchers bent on taking control of the cattle range, and he’s hired a ruthless band of vigilantes called the Regulators to carry his brutal message to the independent ranchers: either join the association or join the dead.

At the top of the Regulators’ dreaded death list is the name of the newly appointed sheriff, Will Iron. The legendary lawman has pinned on a dead man’s badge vowing to bring the last sheriff’s killers to justice and law and order back to the town. Ringle and his Regulators figure they have the outgunned sheriff just where they want him. But they’re wrong. For Will Iron is also a man to be reckoned with – and the day of reckoning is here.

This series of books has only been linked, so far, by the fact that the lead character wears a badge of some kind. Death List is the first to see the author bring back one of the earlier lawmen for a second outing, in this case Will Iron who first appeared in book four, Powder River.

After the brutal killings that open the book, the author slows the pace down whilst introducing his readers to the various people that will play major parts in this story. For those who haven’t met Will Iron before, the author includes plenty of information regarding his background. 

Once Iron arrives in the town of Casper, he soon starts stirring up trouble for those breaking the law and the pace of the story really picks up. A band of rustlers soon adds Iron to their own death list, and Ringle sets out to hire a professional killer to take Iron out. The body count rises impressively as everyone attempts to take control of Casper and the surrounding county.

Bill Reno includes a couple of excellent female roles too, one is Iron’s wife, Vanessa, and the other being Nora Bramley who seems to be hiding a dark secret. 

Even though Iron soon figures out who is behind the Regulators, there’s the matter of proving it, and that is the main problem that Iron struggles with. Whilst trying to get the proof he needs, Iron will find himself taking on impressive odds, sometimes by himself, other times with the backing of those that live in or around Casper. The final showdown sees Iron facing his own death as he stands alone against far superior odds.

Perhaps not my favourite book in the series so far, but Death List was readable and enjoyable and I’m certain it won’t be long before I read the next one.

Bill Reno is a pseudonym used by Lew A. Lacy.

DARK CANYON

 

THE BADGE

book 11 of 24

By Bill Reno

cover art by Shannon Stirnweis

Bantam Books, June 1989

Sheriff Tug Farrell discovers that young, healthy, able-bodied men – from ranchers to railroad workers to Indian braves – all across the country are being abducted. Destination: an illicit gold mine where the prisoners are forced to work as slaves under the most brutal and inhuman conditions. And no one, not even the guards, is allowed to see the face of the mine owner, Mr. Raven, who never leaves his cabin. Farrell knows that it will take an ingenious and daring rescue to free those prisoners, and he wastes no time planning his first move. Then the woman he loves is kidnapped and taken to the mine. Suddenly there’s no time for a plan, or a posse, or a prayer. Farrell’s going in alone – he only hopes he’ll come out alive.

A series of largely stand-alone novels linked by the fact that each stars a lawman of some kind. Having said that, some of these men who wear the badge do appear in more than one book.

Like many of the previous books, this one has quite a dark theme. Here it’s the total disregard for human life as the slaves are worked to death, gunned down if they try to escape, or put to death for trying to stand-up for themselves – the penalty for the latter being dealt out by whip, fist, knife, or if you’re lucky, a quick bullet to the head.

As Farrell struggles to locate the mine he has to deal with other problems too, such as vengeance seeking brothers out to avenge the death of their father at the lawman’s hands. Falling in love further complicates matters for Farrell. 

The author, Lew A. Lacy, writing as Bill Reno, switches from character to character regularly, weaving sub-plots into the main storyline. Each of these threads eventually tying together for the final showdown that has a terrifying ending for some of the main characters. One aspect of Lacy’s storytelling that I really like is that you can never be sure who will survive the tale, be they good or bad. 

Plot twists and plenty of gunplay make this a lively read. The identity of Mr. Raven wasn’t hard to work out, but seeing how the other characters would react once this was revealed was something that also kept me turning the pages. So, for me, this was another very good entry into The Badge series and I look forward to reading another very soon.

COVER GALLERY: WILD BILL

WILD BILL

By Judd Cole

A series of eight books published by Leisure Books from February 1999 to May 2001. Judd Cole is a pseudonym used by John Edward Ames. The books weren't numbered, but are shown in the correct order. 

Marshal, gunfighter, stage driver, and scout, Wild Bill Hickok had a legend as big and untamed as the West itself. No man was as good with a gun as Wild Bill, and few men used one as often. From Abilene to Deadwood, his name was known by all – and feared by many. That’s why he was hired by Allan Pinkerton’s new detective agency to protect an eccentric inventor on a train ride through the worst badlands of the West. With hired thugs out to kill him and angry Sioux out for his scalp, Bill knew he had his work cut out for him. But even if he survived that, he still had a worse danger to face – a jealous Calamity Jane.

Wild Bill Hickok was a legend in his own lifetime. Wherever he went his reputation with a gun proceeded him – along with an open bounty for $10,000 for his arrest. But Wild Bill was working for the law when he went to Kincaid County, Wyoming. Hundreds of prime longhorn cattle had been poisoned, and Bill was sent by the Pinkerton Agency to get to the bottom of it. He didn’t expect to land smack dab in the middle of an all-out range war, but that’s exactly what happened. With the powerful Cattleman’s Association on one side and land-grant settlers on the other, Wild Bill knew that before this war was over, he’d be testing his gun skills to the limit if he hoped to get out alive.

Even among the toughest hardcases in the West, Abilene, Kansas, was known as pure hell on earth, a wide-open wild town that was reined in only briefly – when Wild Bill Hickok was its sheriff. Ever since he rode out of Abilene, Wild Bill had never wanted to go back. But now he had to. A lot of people were dying there. The Kansas Pacific Railroad was laying track where somebody obviously didn’t want it, and bullets were flying thick and furious. The Pinkerton Agency needed their best operative to get to the bottom of it and that meant only one man – Wild Bill. But as hard as it was for Wild Bill to go back, he knew there was a bigger challenge ahead of him – staying alive once he got there.

When the Danford Gang terrorized Arizona, no one – not the U.S. Marshals or the Army – could bring them in. It took Wild Bill Hickok to do that. Only Wild Bill was able to put them in the Yuma Territorial Prison, where they belonged. But the prison couldn’t hold them. The venomous gang escaped and took the Governor’s wife and her sister as hostages. So, it was up to Wild Bill to track them down and do the impossible – capture the Danford Gang a second time. Only this time, the gang’s ruthless leader, Fargo Danford, had a burning need for revenge against the one man who had put him and the gang in prison in the first place, a need as hot as the scorching Sonora sun . . . and as deadly as the desert trap he had set for Bill. 

All Wild Bill Hickok wanted as he set out for Santa Fe was a place to lie low for a while, to get away from the fame and notoriety that followed him wherever he went. But fame wasn’t the only thing that stuck to Wild Bill like glue. He’d made a lot of enemies over the years. And one of them, Frank Tutt, has waited a good long time to taste sweet revenge. He knew he was ready for him . . . ready and eager to make him pay. But he was in no hurry. After all these years he could wait a bit longer, long enough to play a little game with his legendary target. Oh, he would kill Wild Bill, all right – but first he wanted Bill to know what it was like to live in Hell.

Deadwood, South Dakota, held a special place in the pantheon of frontier hellholes. Even to a man like Wild Bill Hickok, that was the toughest town in the West, a town where only the strongest and most daring could survive. But that’s exactly where Wild Bill had to go, whether he liked it or not. He was sent there by the Pinkerton Agency to investigate reports of stealing at a particularly dangerous mine, dangerous even by Deadwood standards. The mine guarded by Regulators, vicious hardcases who made sure no one interfered with their plans. Three Pinkerton men had already been killed when they went up against the Regulators – and Bill was determined not to be the fourth.

The U.S. Army needed help. Someone seemed intent on driving the Sioux off their reservation. Someone was slaughtering their animals and poisoning their water. Were these the acts of renegades, like some thought, or something far worse? Whoever was responsible, the army knew it wouldn’t be long before the Sioux fought back and left the reservation for the war path. The army also knew there was only one man who could restore peace before all hell broke loose – Wild Bill Hickok. Bill had to ride point on a dangerous trail drive to bring cattle to the reservation before the simmering Sioux were pushed too far. But this was no ordinary cattle drive – it was a trip through pure hell, with enemies on every side.

Leland Langford, owner of the Overland Stage and Freighting Company, had a dangerous but essential job and he knew there was only one man for it, the legendary Wild Bill Hickok. Leland knew that only Wild Bill could ensure that an important gold shipment travel safely by stage from the Black Hills to the U.S. Mint in Denver. With Wild Bill as driver, the stage had to make it through. But there was an even more important part of Bill’s mission. Bill had to break up one of the cleverest and most vicious rings of thieves ever to terrorize the West, and send one message loud and clear: Steal gold from the U.S. Treasury and you’ll face the harshest law in the West . . . gun law.

Two artists fronted the books, Ken Laager’s work appeared on book one, and probably book seven – I’ve not been able to confirm the later. All the other books used paintings by Shannon Stirnweis – book eight isn’t confirmed though.